Sunday, December 21, 2014

When I first started writing this post, I hadn't even cut it yet, it was in the fridge, cooling off. I made that statement based on licking the spoon and scraping the pot clean and licking the spoon again.

It's that good.

And now that it's cooled and cut and I've tasted it again, I stand by my initial statement. '

This is the world's best peanut butter fudge.

I'm so happy I tried this, and at the same time, a little worried that I might like this just a little too much. It's made from pantry ingredients that I pretty much keep on hand at all times, and it's really easy, too.Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 1/2 c peanut butter ( I used 3/4 c crunch and 3/4 c smooth)

1 t vanilla

3 T baking cocoa

3 1/2 c confectioners sugar (this is the equivalent of 1 box if you buy it in a box, or usually half a bag if you buy it in a bag)

Melt the butter in large saucepan on medium heat. I should have used one with higher sides, but I didn't know that yet. Add the peanut butter, and stir as it melts until it's well blended. Add the vanilla.

Meanwhile, sift the confectioners sugar, and stir the cocoa into the sugar.

Add the confectioners sugar mixture to the liquid and remove from heat....

...and start stirring.

At one point, you will decide that you have wasted your ingredients and this will never all mix together.

But persevere!

Pour (this is a euphemism--glob the stuff out of the pot) into a foil lined 8x8 pan and allow to cool.

Then eat all of the little crumbly pieces that fall of it or don't look pretty. Well, probably not all or you might sicken yourself out on this delicious fudge, and trust me, you don't want to do that. .

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Today I thought I'd share a super easy "recipe" that"s been passed around among all of the ladies of my family this fall. I always say that "quick and easy" are my middle names in the kitchen, and the same is true of most of my family, so this has been a big hit with each and every one of us.

One of the things I really like about this is the super simplicity of the ingredients list--cake mix and pumpkin are all that's necessary-no eggs, no oil, no "nuthin", just cake mix and pumpkin. The add-ins are just lagniappe--that little something extra that just adds to the deliciousness.

Step 1--open the cake mix and dump it in a bowl.
Step 2--open the pumpkin and dump it in, too.
Step 3--mix it together. I use a big metal spoon.

At about this point, you will start to doubt the veracity of this--it looks like there will never be enough moisture to make this into anything edible, but if you just keep stirring....

...you will end up with a sticky dough that looks like this!

And now is where the fun begins--you may add some additional spices, if you'd like--depending on the cake mix used, I sometimes add pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, allspice, or nutmeg, just a teaspoon or two, total, of spices. The day I made this batch, I totally forget the extra spice. You might notice the pecan halves--I would advise chopped pecans, but I was feeling exceptionally lazy this day and just left them alone. I didn't measure, just added a handful.

Same here, no measurement, I just added a handful of chocolate chips, and stirred them in.

Spoon batter into a paper lined muffin tin. The original version of this called for making 18 muffins, but they come out a little small, so I decided to make only 12, and I liked the size of this batch better.

Bake at 350, for 15-25 minutes, according to the size of the muffins you make.

The dough is really sticky, so I didn't try to smooth it out at all....

...so the resulting muffins are bit rustic looking--what in the food world I guess we'd call artisan.

Variations:

I've made this recipe 3 times, each time slightly different, but each time delicious.

The first time I used a carrot cake mix instead of spice cake, which had carrot slivers and raisins in it, and I added a few chopped nut, made 18 small muffins, and added a simple powdered sugar and milk glaze to the top.

The second time I used spice cake mix, and added chopped dates and nuts, made it in a 9 x 13 pan, and added a cream cheese and powdered sugar glaze.

And this time, as you can see, I used the spice cake mix with chocolate chips and pecans, and no glaze.

I haven't tried it in a loaf pan yet, but I think that's my next experiment. All you have to vary is the cooking time. Use your judgment and insert a toothpick to check for doneness.

I also think you could use a plain cake if that's all you have, and just add some extra spices--pumpkin pie spice, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon--I think it would be great no matter what you add!